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Sunday, April 12, 2015

We have a lovely new rug in our home
that traveled (in our car) all the way from Arizona to Michigan’s Upper
Peninsula and, thankfully, it works in the spot I had in mind in our home.It was selected from a rug/carpet store near
Tucson…but I felt a little like I was stealing it since I left no payment
behind as I walked out of the store. Yes, there is a story attached (!), one that
my husband keeps suggesting I tell to other people.So here goes….

While on vacation a few weeks ago, I
was shopping in a lovely little village that had a variety of wonderful
shops.I was doing what I call
“recreational shopping”…you know, the kind where you don’t need anything but you want
lots of things!

I spotted a store that had a
wonderful selection of rugs of all sizes and I was specifically looking for
that southwest look.As I perused the
options (just wanted something small for a specific place in our home), I also
checked out the price tags and decided I probably should just walk away.

Well, along comes the
salesman-of-the-century and after a few moments with me I’m pretty sure he knew
he had a sale in the making.There is
something about “recreational (vacation) shopping” that tends to overrule the
usual budget constraints.This salesman-of-the-century
(SOTC, for short) was very personable and asked all the right questions.(Because of my past sales experience I can
quickly spot a good approach!)Before I
knew it, I had selected the perfect rug telling myself “if Charlie were here he
would tell me to buy it!”(I have a very
generous husband.)

As I was approaching the payment
process, the “SOTC” informed me that I could take it home, try it out, and
return it, if it didn’t work.I reminded
him that I lived in Michigan.No
problem.But here is where it gets
really interesting: no payment due until I decided whether I would keep it or
not!I then said, “you need a copy of my
credit card, right?”No… WHAT?!!!All he wanted was my contact info and it
occurred to me that I could have written anything down. (Just for the record, I
provided correct information.)“SOTC”
said, “this really makes the city people crazy!”

Coming from a small, upper mid-west
town and often doing business this way, I wasn’t totally shocked; but this
store has many people coming through from many far-away places! How do they know who to trust?This is an ongoing practice at this business
and obviously it is working for them. (By
the way, I kept the rug and called in my CC # a few days after we got home.)

Trust.That word brings up all sorts of thoughts and feelings for me.I know I want to trust the people who
are close to me.I want to trust
the leadership in my church.And I
really want to trust my husband on every level.I even want to trust myself…to make
good decisions, to think clearly, to love God and to show His love to
others.I think most of us want to trust
someone and that’s where life can get messy.

What happens when those very same
people (mentioned above) mess up?When
they disappoint us?When they sin? When
they do something that isn’t very trustworthy?What happens when I have a sin-filled moment and become un-trustworthy?Do we vow never to trust again?Do we put ALL of our trust in flawed
humans, thus setting ourselves up for anger and grief and fear?

Marriage and close family
relationships can be easily broken when trust is violated.How many marriages don’t go the long haul
because of un-repented sin and broken trust?Where is God in all of this?What does He have to say about trust?

I went to the scriptures (where God
speaks to us) and an overwhelming number of the verses on trust said….to
trust totally in my parent, my friend, my spouse?NO!Almost all of them included an instruction to trust the LORD….or
to place trust in His name…or to trust His love.To give just one example (and there are
many), Psalm 20:7 says, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but
we trust in the name of the Lord our God.”I believe we could stretch that a bit and
substitute, “some trust in friends, some trust in their riches,
some trust the government, some trust family members, but, etc.”

I don’t believe God is saying we
should NOT trust in any of those other things; I very much trust
my husband!What I believe God teaches
us in His Word is to put our ultimatetrust in HIM.He will never
disappoint us….He may not give us everything we want…but we can trust
Him completely to live up to His promises.His track record is perfect! Every prophecy spoken by His
people/prophets (and there are hundreds) have been perfectly fulfilled, except
the obvious end times prophecies.So, I
don’t know about you, but I choose to totally trust in the One Who saved
me and will bring me through the perils of this life, into the wonderful,
glorious eternal life He has promised for those who love God through His Son,
Jesus.

2 comments:

Excellent! I love your presentations, you have the ability to take a life situation, put it out there with a dash of wisdom and then we scratch our heads saying why did we make it so complicated..... (not really anonymous, just could not figure system out - Ann)